yorkslister

All I can remember from the missing post or two (can't even remember how many there were!) is that I think there's something a bit suspicious about the Rock Bunting claim from Bolton Abbey.  Too many things don't quite add up.  The anonymity bit is very strange, the observer has been known to someone at the BTO for 30 yrs and he knows enough to realise the bird was something different, so surely he would know people will want to check the validity of the record!  Also the digital image is not available because he doesn't know how to e-mail the pic!  I've heard there are people out there that can't do that but I thought it was just hearsay you know like nessy.  The digital image is surely crucial if this record is to be acceptable so that the EXIF data can be checked.  I'm not saying outright this is a hoax but for the sake of the official record being true then some things really need to be checked out.

Wednesday I had the day at Spurn.  Normally I'd have been happy with Nightingale and Red rumped Swallow but this year we just keep getting the birds which is making us greedy.  So I was a bit annoyed when shortly after I left they had another Red rump and a Monties!

Thursday I checked Swinemoor but didn't really do much birding, only things present were the Wood Sand and LRP still.  So I was peeved when Steve Webb text to say he'd got a Temminck's!  Bastard.  Serves me right really I only checked it from the road earlier and you can't see the near edge of the pool from there.  Mind you when I went down and walked to the pool I couldn't find it anyway.  Friday morning whilst back at Spurn Webby texts again to say it was still there!  Sodding thing must hide in Rabbit burrows.  After returning from Spurn I decided to have a look even though Steve text ten minutes before I got there to say he couldn't find it and bingo found it.  All I need to do now is find my own.

I said the other day that Swinemoor needs to be properly managed, here's a pic of it at the moment.

I haven't got any pics of it at it's peak but the dark muddy areas in the right hand side of the frame are normally large pools of open water and the whole area is so wet and boggy you can't walk across it.  The place is teeming with Lapwing, it has Redshank and Snipe breeding too plus Yellow Wagtail and Garganey have hung around long enough in the past to suggest breeding attempts.  It's criminal this place isn't managed properly.

Back at Spurn on Friday things were very quiet had an LRP and a Wood Saand go south but very few Swallows moving, highlight was just as I'd left a crackly message came through from Adamwhich I could just make out enough of to suggest it was something worthwhile, turned out to be a Monties so I shot back and caught up with it at the Narrows.